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DISCOURSE which the King of Portugal caused to be read by his Secretary in the Sitting of July 4th, in Answer to that which had been addressed to him by the President of the Cortes, on the occasion of his taking the Oath to the Bases of the Constitution:

"Gentlemen Deputies of these Kingdoms;-If it is natural for every man well born to feel a particular delight in revisiting his dear country after an absence of a short duration, what satisfaction must be experienced by a prince, who, after an absence of thirteen years, is restored to the ancient capital of his august ancestors, and tastes the invaluable happiness of being received with sentiments which correspond to the paternal affection of his heart for a whole nation assembled in the persons of its worthy representatives, united in this congress by their love of their king and country?

"Yes, gentlemen, I am convinced that a pure love for your king, a disinterested desire for the public good, and the unanimous wishes of the citizens, have alone brought you within this assembly, on which Portugal, Europe, and the whole world, have fixed their eyes. From you alone can be expected the happy regeneration of a people who by their worth and virtues have occupied so eminent a place in the history of nations.

"When I received the happy intelligence that, in the ancient capital of the monarchy, there were about to assemble, citizens remarkable for their knowledge and personal qualities, citizens marked out by public opinion, and freely chosen to save their country from the shipwreck with which it was threatened in the ocean of misfortunes, accumulat

ing for a long series of years since the establishment of our primitive constitution, it was impossible that, feeling the duties which my title of king imposed upon me, I should not hasten back to the cradle of the monarchy. It would have been the first time that a Portuguese monarch did not aspire to the honour of joining the representatives of the nation to watch over its interests and to insure its prosperity. If it was possible that the Portuguese should dream of proscribing the form of monarchical government, your king would not find in the lessons bequeathed to him from his predecessors, and in his own heart, other doctrines than to abandon to the decrees of Providence with a sigh, but without thoughts of culpable vengeance, the nation which should reject him as its chief. But it gives me pleasure to proclaim to the uni verse, that the Portuguese have never forgotten for an instant what they are, and what they have been, and that they will always recollect their renown for virtues and loyalty.

"In the act of the convocation of the Cortes, the Portuguese protested that the edifice of the new constitution which they proposed to form reposed on the immutable basis of hereditary monarchy, preserved in the house of Braganza: they renewed the oaths of. fidelity, which were taken by all classes of the nation on my accession to the throne

possessed by my ancestors. They have also sanctioned the fundamental principle of every constitutional monarchy, that the exercise of sovereignty, consisting in the exercise of the legislative power, cannot be vested separately in any one of the integral parts of the government, but in the union of the monarch and the deputies elected by the people, as you have been, who are to form the supreme national council, called by our ancestors the Cortes, and to whom collectively belongs the exercise of the legislative power; so that if ever the monarch usurped this right without the participation of the chamber of deputies, the government would be transformed into a despotism; and, in like manner, if the chamber of deputies should attempt to exercise alone the legislative power, the constitutional government would be transformed into the government of a mob.

"Convinced of the truth of these incontestable principles of the constitutional rights of nations, as soon as I learned that the citizens of these kingdoms had elected deputies to represent them in the Cortes, I resolved to set sail to occupy the important post which, according to principles hitherto acknowledged, had been allotted me by Providence.

"Nevertheless, as it was not compatible with the general good of the monarchy that I should transport immediately the seat of government from Brazil to Europe, without having adopted necessary measures that the union of the two kingdoms, and the march of affairs, might not suffer before the establishment of the future constitution, I began by

giving the orders which appeared to me conducive to this end. I have ordered my minister secretary of state to lay before you the details by which you will be able to appreciate these arrangements.

"These preparations being made, I made all haste to join the representatives of my people to proceed in concert with them, and animated by the same patriotism, to the important work which must emanate from this supreme council composed of per. sons assembled for the purpose by the free and spontaneous choice of the nation. Already all classes in general, and every individual in particular, have sworn to obey this authority, whose legitimate power cannot be contested either by the citizens of the country which has deputed them, or by foreigners, who are incompetent to pronounce in such matters. You know, by the report which I caused to be made to you by my secretary of state for foreign affairs, that the first step which I took in the career of the constitutional government into which the interest of my people imposed upon me the duty of entering without an afterthought, was to take myself, and cause to be taken by the members of my royal family, by the army and by the people of my dominions beyond seas, the same oath of obedience to the general will of the nation legally expressed by its representatives.

"I declared immediately, that deputies from that kingdom should be nominated according to the forms adopted here, to come to unite themselves with you. In a word, I wished that all those deputies joined with us, and bound

by their oaths, should concur, in the name of their constituents, in the great work which was to rivet the bonds of unalterable union among all those who glory in possessing and deserving the name of Portuguese in the four quarters of the world.

"Organs of my unalterable sentiments, and of the sincere wishes which, during the course

of my administration, I have never ceased to form for the prosperity of the monarchy, my ministers of state will lay before you whatever subjects of discussion, with a view to the general good I am desirous you should know and observe; that we may bring to the most speedy termination the important work which we have undertaken."

INSTRUCTIONS of his Majesty the King of Portugal, relative to the Government of Brazil during his Absence in Europe.

The prince royal of the united kingdom shall take the title of prince regent, or wy lieutenant in the provisional government of the kingdom of Brazil, with which he is charged.

In this government, M. Conde dos Arcos shall be minister and secretary of state for the affairs of the kingdom of Brazil, and for foreign affairs. The Conde de Louzana D. Diogo de Menezes, minister and secretary of state for the affairs of finance, as he now is; major-general Carlos Fre. derico de Čaula to be secretary of state, ad interim, in the war department; and Manoel Antonio Faninha, major-general in the fleet, to be secretary of state, ad interim, for the marine depart

ment.

The prince royal shall take his resolutions in the council formed of the two ministers of state, and of the two secretaries of state, ad interim, and its determinations shall be reported by the minister or secretary of state whose department they concern, who shall be responsible.

The prince royal shall have all powers for the administration of justice or finance and econo

mical government. He shall be able to commute or dispense with the penalty of death to which criminals may be sentenced. He shall decide all questions relative to the public administration.

He shall appoint to all the offices of justice or finance, to all civil and military employments; and the persons so appointed shall immediately enter on the exercise of their functions by virtue of his decree. He shall promote to all benefices or ecclesiastial dignitics, excepting bishopricks; but he may propose to me, for them, such persons as may be worthy.

He may make war, offensive or defensive, against any enemy who may attack the kingdom of Brazil, if the circumstances of the case are so urgent that my royal or. ders cannot be waited for without the greatest injury to my faithful subjects in this kingdom; and for the same reason, and in similar circumstances, he may make truces or some provisional treaty with the enemies of the state.

Lastly, the prince may confer, as honorary favours, the habits of the three military orders of Christ, S. Bento de Aviz, and S. Tiago da Espada, to persons whom he

shall judge worthy of this distinction. In the unfortunate and unhappy event (which God avert) of the death of the prince royal, the regency of the kingdom of Brazil shall immediately devolve on the princess royal, his consort, my much-beloved daughter-inlaw, who shall govern with a council of regency, consisting of the ministers of state, the secre

taries of state for the departments of war and the marine, the president of the privy council, and of the chief judge. The senior minister of state shall be president of this council, and this regency shall have the same powers and authority as were enjoyed by the prince regent.

THE KING. Palace of Bonavista, April 22.

NAPLES, FEBRUARY 28.
MANIFESTO of the Government of the two Sicilies.

The constitutional government of the Two Sicilies, against which the congress of Laybach has fulminated its anathemas, while it prepares to repel the most unjust and the most violent aggression of which history has ever made mention, desires also to appeal to the opinion of Europe, and of all civilized nations; and that every one may equally judge on which side is reason and on which side is injustice, in the war which, after five years of peace, is going to break out in unhappy Italy, the government owes it to itself to make known all the particulars which have conducted it to the political situation in which it is at this moment placed.

The wants of the people of the Two Sicilies, the degree of civilization to which it has attained, had called for many years for a change in the internal system of the state. At the beginning of July, 1820, the constitution of Spain was demanded by the una nimous voice of the nation. The king adhered to it, saving the modifications proposed by the representatives of the nation, who were convoked principally for

this purpose, with the obligation to respect the basis of the new social compact. On the 15th of the same month his majesty swore to observe it, before the provisional junta; and on the 19th the king made an official communication of it to all the foreign powers, with whom he was on terms of friendship.

Ever since these first moments, the spirit of moderation, and a scrupulous regard to the independence, the institutions, and the rights of other nations, have formed the rule of the conduct of the Neapolitan government. It proclaimed these maxims before the whole world, when it refused to interfere in the affairs of Benevento and Ponte Corvo, which had called for its interference.

Europe cannot doubt of the sincere desire of our government to live in peace and good understanding with all others, if it examines without partiality the conduct observed towards Austria.

Scarcely was the form of our political regime changed, when the first thought of the court of Naples was, to assure the cabinet

of Vienna that such a change could not, in any manner, impair the relations of friendship and alliance existing between the two states. The first overtures having been rejected, the king setting aside all resentment, repeated his assurances, sent ambassadors, and, in short, attempted all manner of amicable communication; but all was in vain. So much harshness on the part of Austria was returned at Naples, by the greatest respect to the legation, the councils, and all the subjects of Austria.

Nevertheless, the court of Vienna, constantly alleging that our political reform "shook the foundations of the social edifice, that it proclaimed anarchy as a law, that it menaced the safety of thrones, and that of recognised institutions, and the tranquillity of nations," urged with precipitation the most extraordinary preparations of war in the Italian states, increased the garrisons of Ferrara, Placentia, and Commacchio, and solicited all the powers of Europe to declare against the Neapolitan government, not to receive its ministers, and to break off all communication with it.

His majesty then ordered the duke di Campo Chiaro, his secretary of state, minister for foreign affairs, to demand of that court, in his name, a categorical explanation of these extraordinary armaments, and of the attitude which it assumed towards us; but this note-sent for that purpose to prince Metternich the very day when the king, on opening the first session of the national parliament, renewed in the midst of it the oath to maintain the constitution-this note, in which all the accusations directed against

our political reform were refuted, received no answer.

In the interval, the sovereigns of Austria, Russia, and Prussia, met at Troppau, with their plenipotentiaries, and those of France and England. The object of this meeting was to take into consideration the affairs of Naples, and its result to invite his majesty the king to repair to Laybach, to cooperate with the allied sovereigns in "the means of conciliating the interests and the happiness of his people, with the duties which they were called upon to fulfil towards their own states and towards the world."

His majesty accepted a mission which was proposed to him in the name of a tutelary alliance, solely destined to guarantee the political independence of all states. The parliament consented to the departure of the sovereign; and thus, refuting the calumnies spread respecting the state of constraint in which the king was supposed to be, it showed the confidence which it placed in its august defender. He departed, in fact, attended by the prayers of the nation; but scarcely has he arrived at Laybach, when he is deprived of the minister whom he had brought with him, and threatened with a disastrous war, to oblige him to adhere to the principles and to the violent measures already resolved at Troppau. All the means which he employs to avert this misfortune are fruitless.

It was then that the allied powers assembled at Laybach took against the kingdom of the Two Sicilies resolutions, which, at the utmost, would have been imposed after a great number of victories upon a vanquished and

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